


Formal Application

by Chash



Series: Just As You Are [5]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 19:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5345921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellamy buys the ring as soon as Octavia gets her financial aid package.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Formal Application

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feminist14er](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feminist14er/gifts).



> Holiday prompt fill! Putting it up here because it probably belongs in the actual series. Just for convenience.

Bellamy buys the ring as soon as Octavia gets her financial aid package.

“You didn’t have one yet?” his sister asks, when he shows her. “How did you not have one?”

“They’re expensive,” he grumbles. “I know Clarke doesn’t care, but–I wanted to get her something nice.”

“She’s going to yell at you if you spent too much on it,” Octavia points out. “But it’s pretty.”

“That’s why I was waiting,” he says. “I budgeted. We can afford it.”

Her face breaks out in a bright grin, and Bellamy feels himself relax. “It’s prefect. Have you decided how you’re going to propose yet?”

“Not really,” he admits. There’s no real reason for him to be nervous about the prospect. He and Clarke have been together for five years. She loves him. She’s said, on more than one occasion, that she’s going to marry him. She’s going to say yes. He has absolutely no doubt. But he’s still nervous. “I don’t think she’d be into any of those weird public proposal things.”

“No, but–she’d probably like it if you were romantic. Or, you know, as close as you get.”

He shoves Octavia’s head gently. “Shut up, O.”

She hands the ring back with another smile. “I’m really happy for you, Bell.”

“Yeah,” he says. “Me too.” 

*

Maybe it’s weird that he’s never put much thought into the specifics of proposing to his girlfriend. He just doesn’t really know what Clarke wants out of a proposal. He can’t imagine she’s one of those girls who’s going to be pissed if he doesn’t do an elaborate proposal thing. And, honestly, she lives with him and he’s not subtle, so he figures if he does try to do something complicated, she’ll see through him in like ten minutes and ask why he’s being weird.

Then, a couple weeks after he buys the ring, she says, “Oh, by the way, I’ve got a stupid work thing next weekend?”

“What stupid work thing?”

“Going to Boston for a museum person thing,” she says, with a vague wave of her hand. 

He has to smile. “One of those museum person things, huh? That clears everything up.”

“It’s a conference about lifelong learning, it sounds awful, but work is paying it and I’ll get dinner with Raven or something. I’d say you should come, but I don’t think I’ll have much downtime.”

“Nah, that’s fine. I’ll play video games in my underwear all weekend, since you aren’t around to judge me.”

“Octavia’s the one who objects to that, not me. I love when you hang out in your underwear.”

He grins and kisses her. “Still. Say hi to Raven for me and buy me some weird lobster souvenirs. That’s all I need.”

She leaves on Thursday and won’t be back until Monday, which does suck a little, just because his bed is all big and empty, but it gives him some time to think about how to ask her to marry him.

“Nice meal?” he asks Octavia.

“Don’t you have friends you can talk to about this?” she asks, rolling her eyes.

“All my friends are freaked out that I’m at a point in my life where I’m ready to propose to my girlfriend,” he says. “Wick says it makes him feel old and scared.”

“So, what, you cook her dinner and put the ring somewhere for her to find it?”

“I figured I just cook her dinner, put an actual tablecloth on the table, light candles, and when she walks in and sees it I–get down on one knee and propose? That’s romantic, right?”

“I guess.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It just doesn’t–” She huffs. “Look, any way you ask Clarke to marry you, she’s going to say yes. I don’t even think you’re capable of screwing it up so badly she says no. But a romantic dinner is just–it feels really  _generic_ , Bell. I get that you want to do something special, but anyone could do that. If you’re going to do something special, it should be special to you.” She pets his shoulder. “Your girlfriend loves you. Don’t overthink it.”

He pauses and then frowns at her. “At what point did you get smart?”

“I’ve always been smart. Smart and beautiful and perfect. I got all the good genes in the family.”

“You did,” he says, and squeezes her shoulder. “I still want you to clear out on Monday night. But I’ll come up with something better.”

“Can I go to my girlfriend’s house?”

“Sure. But no sleepovers on school nights, you know the rules.”

“Deal,” she says. “You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.” It sounds sarcastic, so he adds, “Genuinely. Thanks.”

*

He takes Saturday and writes her an essay, the kind he hasn’t written since he graduated from college. It looks a lot like his wrap-up paper from their tutorial, honestly, except that he’s got five years to draw from instead of one semester, and it’s actually about how he’s in love with her, instead of that just being subtext. It’s basically an academic love letter: all his favorite things about her, without getting too pornographic, supporting evidence for why she’s bright and brilliant and lovely, why he loves her and wants to marry her.

He titles it  _Gorgeous and Fucking Amazing: In Defense of Clarke Griffin Marrying Bellamy Blake_  and emails it to her with the note:  _Here’s my paper for this week. Reaction paper for dinner on Monday, if that’s not too soon. Sorry for sending a little late, busy week_.

He still takes the day off work on Monday to be nervous and cook her a nice dinner, but he doesn’t bother with a tablecloth or anything like that. It can be nicer than usual, but it doesn’t have to be–well, he’s not making an argument for why she should marry him. He already did that. And she was convinced before he ever wrote the essay, so this is just him making a nice meal for his girlfriend, who is hopefully about to become his fiancee.

She slips in quietly, leans over his shoulder to watch as he’s stirring the sauce. “Smells good.”

“I try.” He turns and gives her a kiss. “Good trip?”

“Sunday was a total loss, I couldn’t pay attention to any of the panels I was at.”

“That sucks.”

“Well, I didn’t want to pay attention to them anyway.” She rests his chin on his shoulder. “I’ve got some questions.”

“That’s what your response paper is for.”

She laughs and wraps her arms around him. “Yeah, I know. I wish I’d had more questions, actually, I was having trouble meeting the minimum word count. I also put some notes on your paper.”

“You’re my favorite person.”

“I know. Before or after dinner?”

He wets his lips. “It’s a tutorial. You’re supposed to read your paper.”

“We both are.”

“Yeah, but I’m cooking.”

She lets go of him and goes back to the hall, and he hears her rifling through her bag. She comes back and sits on the counter, smoothing down a piece of paper.

“Blake makes a lot of strong arguments in defense of Griffin marrying him,” Clarke reads. “He didn’t present much new insight on the relationship, but his examples were well-chosen, and he did an excellent job showing the progression of his feelings. And while Blake presents a compelling case for why he and Griffin should marry, I’m left wondering about his motivations for proposing  _now_. It’s not a criticism of his actual thesis, which is, as previously stated, strongly reasoned and presented, but a marriage proposal seems like something that would have a motivating event. I found myself wondering why Blake had decided this was the week to address this issue.”

Bellamy opens his mouth, but Clarke just grins and holds up one finger. “Aside from this confusion, Blake made very few mistakes in his paper. I did have some grammatical concerns–” He groans, and she swats at him. “Some grammatical concerns, and I thought he went on for longer than necessary about Griffin’s willingness to put up with the limitations of dating him. The lack of supporting evidence that she felt it was a problem was telling in that section–everything was from Blake’s perspective, not hers. If he really wants to marry her, he needs to make it clear he accepts that she loves him, she’s happy with her life, and that he doesn’t think she’s sacrificing everything to be with him. Once these questions are resolved, however, I can’t see any reason why Clarke Griffin shouldn’t marry Bellamy Blake.”

“I wrote that in like five hours, of course it wasn’t perfect,” he teases. “The section about you giving up a promising career as a famous doctor/artist/life-coach triple threat was a  _joke_.”

“My entire response was a joke, of course I’m marrying you,” she says, tugging him in for a kiss. “I wrote some pretty great notes on your paper, though.”

“Barfing faces?”

“Just when you got sappy. So at least twice a paragraph.”

“I’ve got a ring for you.”

“I figured.”

“That’s why I was waiting, by the way. I needed O’s financial aid to come through so I knew what my ring budget was.”

She laughs and kisses him again. “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. You should have put it in your paper.”

“Well, your response was way too short, so neither of us is really doing great on this assignment.”

“Oh well,” she says. “I said yes, right? Yes. I’ll marry you.”

“You said it, yeah,” he says, grinning. “But feel free to say it as much as you want.”


End file.
